Fifth Floor is pleased to present a show of two groups of ph
otographic works by Bay Area artist Carol Selter. Science Pets is a series
of prints that follows the lives of western tussock moths being raised in a
n artificial environment by a biology graduate student. Finding pathos in t
he attempts by the insects to live normally in such surroundings\, Selter p
ersonified the doomed caterpillars and moths to which she grew attached. He
r images highlight the innate human tendency to care about specific individ
uals even when we would be unresponsive to an amorphous group of the same c
reatures.

R.I.P. is a series of printed fabric sculptures sewn a
s pillows. These reference the final resting places of dead animals being p
repared for skeletal specimens by a dermestid beetle colony. The front of e
ach sculpture shows the undisturbed\, weathered cotton batting placed aroun
d each carcass. Only by turning over the object do we find what is hidden b
eneath. Thus\, the process of discovery experienced by the artist is reenac
ted by viewers and ultimately owners of the work. Conversely\, with this co
nstruction Selter also permits us to not look\, to ignore mortality and hid
e the earthly remains of these creatures in a type of reverse memento mori.

Carol Selter was born in Los Angeles and currently lives and wo
rks in Santa Cruz. Her work has been shown at Gallery 16 in San Franscisco\
, SFMOMA\, San Francisco State University\, Sheppard Gallery at UN Reno\, K
ala Art Institute in Berkeley\, and the Sonoma County Museum. She is the re
cipient of a SECA award in electronic media and a Phelan Art-Photography aw
ard. Selter received her MFA in Photography from San Jose State University’
s School of Art and Design after receiving both a BA in Botany and a MA in
Biology from SJSU. This is Selter’s first exhibition in Los Angeles.